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Shūsuke Fuji
Shusuke Fuji (不二 周助, Fuji Syūsuke?) is one of the Prince of Tennis characters. His name is romanized as Syusuke Fuji in the Japanese anime, and Shusuke Fuji in all the English versions. Information *Name: Shusuke (Syusuke) Fuji (Fuji Syūsuke) *Seiyu: Yuki Kaida *Dubbed Voice Actor: Adam Lawson (English, ep. 1-30), Johnny Yong Bosch (English ep. 31- ) *Age/Gender: 14/Male *Birthday: February 29 *School/Year/Class: Seigaku/3rd Year/3-6 *Tennis Strategy: Counter-Puncher *Dominant Hand: Right-handed Background Shusuke Fuji is a third year student at Seishun Academy. He is given the title "tensai", or genius, due to his tactical skill on the tennis court. He is in the same class as Eiji Kikumaru, and is Eiji's good friend. Fuji is a leap year baby (his birthday is on February 29), and thus he can only properly celebrate his birthday once every four years. Fuji is cheerful and easygoing, with a penchant for playfully teasing those around him. He is the middle child of the Fuji family. His unnamed father is a foreign-based employee, and is never seen in the series. His mother, 49-year-old Yoshiko, who also has perpetually-closed eyes, is seen in the manga as a kind and dedicated Japanese housewife. His younger brother, Yuta, is a tennis player at St. Rudolph Middle School. Fuji's elder sister, 24-year-old Yumiko, is considered very attractive and is popular among both Fuji and Yuta's friends. He grew up in Chiba, where he became friends with Kojirō Saeki, the current vice-captain of Rokkaku Middle School Tennis Club. Later on, he moved to Tokyo and entered Seigaku. Fuji usually takes the position of S2 (Singles 2), although sometimes he is paired with Kawamura Takashi or Kikumaru Eiji in Doubles (with Kikumaru, they are called the "Dream Pair"). Also, he and Echizen Ryoma temporarily take turns for the position of S1 (Singles 1) when captain Tezuka Kunimitsu is in rehabilitation. Personality Fuji is often seen with a calm and content expression on his face, with his eyes seemingly closed from lightly smiling. However, when he is excited or provoked, or when playing seriously, Fuji reveals his sharp eyes: blue in the anime and light brown in the manga. Fuji generally seems very relaxed and in control, whilst his opponent is pushing himself to the limit, giving many the impression that Fuji is either a genius, who knows how to save his energy during plays, or that he does not really care about tennis itself. There are a few people that can "wake" the true player in Fuji and force him to play seriously, and these few are either nationally-ranked or extremely talented tennis players. Seigaku teammates Kunimitsu Tezuka and Ryoma Echizen, Shitenhōji captain Kuranosuke Shiraishi, and Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku regular Masaharu Niou have been acknowledged by Fuji to be actual challenges. Fuji is particularly protective of his younger brother Yuta (probably to make up for former disagreements that almost brought them apart), as displayed throughout the series; he actively tries to "destroy" and punish those who have defeated his younger brother or have made him go through something dangerous (as proved by how differently he treats Jirou Akutagawa from Hyotei and Hajime Mizuki from Saint Rudolph. Though he holds no personal grudge towards Jirou, who won fairly against Yuta, he does resent Mizuki for a long time after seeing how he treated his brother as someone expendable to ensure his team's victory). Yuta is also not the only person he has been protective of in this sense; in the anime, he is very upset when Kippei Tachibana is injured in his match against Rikkai Dai regular Akaya Kirihara (in the manga, Ryoma is the one who is injured). He is also upset when Akaya Kirihara insults the two schools, Seigaku and Fudomine. When Seigaku is down 1-2 in the Kantō finals against Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku, he engages in a serious match with Akaya Kirihara, who plays a fairly violent form of tennis. Kirihara injures Fuji's knee and knocks over an already injured Tachibana, who arrives to encourage Fuji; thanks to this and the fact that Tezuka is also absent due to injury, Fuji becomes serious and goes on to win the match. According to what Fuji's sister, Yumiko, tells Hajime Mizuki and Yuta, Fuji never gets angry about what happens to him, but when his family or friends are in danger, he does not hold back and attacks with full seriousness. However, during the National Tournament he does not react in the same way when Ryuzaki-sensei is attacked during his doubles match with Kawamura Takashi against Higa Chuu. Although Fuji does reveal his Fourth Counter in this match, never is his anger awakened like it was with Kirihara, making Fuji use more dangerous moves like the Knuckle Serve. At times, Fuji tends to act like Eiji Kikumaru, wanting to win and to be number one. In episode 70, there is a mixed club day at his school, where the students are not allowed to play the sport that they are in. During this day, Fuji plays curling, which no one else plays, thus his words are, "Participants: zero, the championship is mine." Prior to the National Tournament, Fuji plays a practice match against Fudomine's Tachibana, who breaks each of Fuji's Triple Counter. Realizing that his counters are not enough for a national-level tournament, Fuji develops his fourth counter, Kagerō Zutsumi (Dragonfly Illusion). However, during Seigaku's National semifinal match against Shitenhōji's Kuranosuke Shiraishi, Fuji suffers his first loss in an official match, despite making a comeback from 0 games to 5 by using his evolved Triple Counter, he loses 6 games to 7 during a tiebreak. This is the first time that any of his teammates see Fuji so disappointed in the outcome of the match. Fuji also seems to be one of few Seigaku Regulars (along with Shuichiro Oishi and Ryoma Echizen) who is genuinely close to Kunimitsu Tezuka, the captain of the tennis club. As such, he and Tezuka are often seen together. Fuji is fairly popular amongst his peers. In episode 134, he goes on a "date" with Kurumi (he had no choice; Momoshiro and Eiji made the decision for him), a grade schooler who falls in love with him at first sight, thinking of him as a prince of sorts. Despite his penchant for jokes and pranks off-tennis, Fuji can be insightful and even sweet when his friends need it; during his so-called date with little Kurumi, when she reveals that she has low self-esteem since she feels overshadowed by her older twin sister Narumi, Fuji helps her to sort their problems out, seeing his own situation with Yuta reflected in the sisters' quarrels. Along with Tezuka (though Tezuka's hand was shaking after mistakenly drank it), Fuji is possibly the only person on the entire Seigaku team who is immune to Sadaharu Inui's various concoctions. However, while Tezuka only appears unaffected and does not state what he thought of the concoctions, it has been a running gag in the story that Fuji actually "likes" those drinks and will recommend it to others too. While he may intentionally fault during practice occasionally in order to try the penal concoctions, he has also mentioned that he enjoys seeing others suffer from drinking the concoctions even more. He is, however, not immune to "Aozu", a horrific blue vinegar and cod liver oil concoction; this drink causes his only blackout, and since then, Inui has believed that Fuji has a grudge against him. His odd tastes in food do not stop at Inui's gruesome health drinks, and he takes delight in wasabi rolls, honey-mustard, and horse radishes. However, later on, Fuji seems to work harder to not end up drinking the oddly colored liquids. Tennis Styles and Techniques Fuji is a counterpuncher, playing a steady game and attacking ar the right time. Most of his techniques are designed to specifically counter an opponent's strength, which gives him the title genius. Tournament Matches *'Tokyo District Preliminaries' **'Quarterfinals against Gyokurin Singles 1 - vs Nakano: Won 6-0 **'Finals' against Fudomine Middle School Doubles 2 - Partnered with Kawamura Takashi vs Ishida Tetsu / Sakurai Masaya: Lost 5-2 (forefeit) *'Tokyo Prefectual Tournament' **'Semi-Finals' against St. Rudolph Singles 2 — vs Mizuki Hajime: Won 7-5 **'Finals' against Yamabuki Middle School Doubles 2 - Partnered with Kawamura Takashi vs Nitobe Inakichi / Kita Ichicuma: Lost 3-6 *'Kanto Regional Tournament' **'Round 1' against Hyotei Academy Singles 2 — vs Akutagawa Jirou: Won 6-1 **'Quarterfinals' against Midoriyama Singles 1 vs Tsuta Akane: No results due to Seigaku already winning 3 sets **'Semi-Finals' against Rokkaku Middle School Doubles 1 - Partnered with Kikumaru Eiji vs Saeki Kojiro / Itsuki Marehiko: Won 6-2 **'Finals' against Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku Singles 2 — vs Kirihara Akaya: Won 7-5 (manga) 6-4 (anime) *'National Tournament' **'Round 2' against Higa Middle School Doubles 2 - Partnered with Kawamura Takashi vs Chinen Hiroshi / Hirakoba Rin: Won 7-5 **'Quarterfinals' against Hyotei Academy Reserve Player **'Semi-Finals' against Shintenhoji Singles 3 — vs Shiraishi Kuranosuke: Lost 6-7 **'Finals' against Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku Singles 2 — vs Niou Masaharu: Won 7-5 Trivia *The kanji for Fuji (不二) stands for 'not second', 'unparalleled', or 'peerless'. His name can also be seen as a bit of a pun when his hobbies and favorite foods are taken into account; Fujifilm is the world's largest photographic and imaging company, and one of Fuji's hobbies is photography. Fuji apples are a type of apple, and they are one of Fuji's favorite foods. *In the Valentine Chocolate specials from the manga, Fuji has constantly been in the top three recipients of chocolate, with the exception of the years 2005 and 2006. *In a chibi episode and in TeniPuri family, Fuji is portrayed as a woman, playing off on his somewhat feminine looks. In the TeniPuri family episodes, he is the sweet yet impulsive Grandmother of the family and is often paired up with Tezuka, who plays the Grandfather. In the other Tenipuri chibi episode, settled in the Far West, he plays a damsel in distress-type girl searching for a Lone Gunman who later turns out to be Tezuka. *In all the Shonen Jump character popularity poll of series, Fuji has remained in the top two. Besides the second character popularity poll, where Fuji came in first place, Fuji has come in second place in every other poll. *In addition, in the Valentine Chocolate specials of the manga, Fuji has constantly been in the top three recipients of chocolate, including receiving the most in 2001, with the exception of the years 2005 and 2006. *Fuji is one of the few male characters in the anime who is voiced by a female voice actor, others being Ryoma Echizen, Kintarou Tooyama of Shitenhouji, Taichi Dan of Yamabuki, Youhei and Kouhei Tanaka of Jyosei Shonan (the latter two being anime only characters), and Seiichi Yukimura of Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku. However, Ryoma, Kintarō and Taichi are first years, thus younger and more naturally voiced by a female seiyū, but despite Fuji and Yukimura being third years, they are also voiced by female seiyū. *In the anime series, Fuji's seiyū is Yuki Kaida. In the Japanese original, both Fuji and his sister Yumiko are voiced by Yuki Kaida. *For the live-action adaptation film of The Prince of Tennis, Tenimyu actor Hiroki Aiba portrays Fuji. *In The Prince of Tennis Musicals, Fuji is portrayed by actors Kimeru (2003-2005), Takashi Nagayama (2003-2004), Hiroki Aiba (2005-2007, 2008), Yuuta Furukawa (2007-present), and Hashimoto Taito (2008-present). *In the English anime series, Fuji is voiced first by Adam Lawson, and later (from episode 31 on) by Johnny Yong Bosch. References ^ Konomi, Takeshi (2007). The Prince of Tennis Character Book (Vol. 40.5). Shueisha. ISBN 4088741986. ^ Konomi, Takeshi (2003). "Genius 158", Prince of Tennis　Vol. 18. Shueisha, 192. ISBN 4-08-873407-6. ^ Konomi, Takeshi (2001). "Genius 83", Prince of Tennis　Vol. 10. Shueisha, 184. ISBN 4-08-873162-X. ^ Konomi, Takeshi (2006). "Genius 276", Prince of Tennis　Vol. 33. Shueisha, 192. ISBN 4-08-874048-3. ^ Konomi, Takeshi (2007). "Genius 333", Prince of Tennis　Vol. 38. Shueisha, 192. ISBN 978-4-08-874353-0. ^ Konomi, Takeshi (2001). "Genius 62", Prince of Tennis Vol. 8. Shueisha, 184. ISBN 4-08-873112-3. Category: Characters